The preparation of a beverage by a capsule containing beverage ingredients is known. In general, the capsule is inserted in a beverage production device, such as a coffee machine, liquid is fed in the capsule, the liquid interacts with the beverage ingredients and a beverage is extracted from the capsule under pressure or by gravity.
The preparation of a beverage by using the centrifugation is known. The principle mainly consists in providing beverage ingredients in a container of the capsule, feeding liquid in the receptacle and rotating the receptacle at elevated speed to ensure the interaction of liquid with ingredients while creating a gradient of pressure of liquid in the receptacle; such pressure increasing gradually from the centre towards the periphery of the receptacle. As liquid traverses the ingredients, e.g., ground coffee, extraction of the food compounds takes place and a liquid extract is obtained that flows out at the periphery of the receptacle.
The term “capsule” refers to any flexible, rigid or semi-rigid packaging container containing beverage ingredients. Other synonyms to a capsule are: “pod”, “pad”, “cartridge” or “sachet”. The capsule can be designed for a single use. The container can also be filled with ingredients by the user to form the capsule just before use.
The term “ingredients” means any suitable beverage substance such as ground coffee, soluble coffee, leaf tea, soluble tea, herbal tea, dairy powder, culinary powder, baby food, other beverage nutritional ingredients and any combinations thereof.
A capsule system and method for preparing a beverage from a capsule using centrifugation forces is described in the following documents: EP2210539, WO2008/148604, WO2008148650, WO2008/148646, WO2008/148656 and WO2010/026045.
It is known to use a capsule in a beverage brewing device using centrifugation wherein a closing wall of the capsule is removed or perforated for enabling insertion of beverage extracting means.
EP2119383A1 relates to a portion capsule which can be inserted into a rotary brewing device. The portion capsule has a casing, a lid and a base. The casing can be provided with openings or perforations. The openings may be covered by a cover on the openings which is removed by the user before inserting the capsule into the device. The perforations can be provided in the casing by a number of perforation needles which are generally displaced radially with respect to the rotation axis of the device towards the rotation axis.
In WO 2008/148834, a capsule is proposed with pre-made outlets at its periphery; the outlets being covered by a gastight sealing membrane. The sealing membrane can be a flexible band surrounding the wall and which can be pierced, cut or removed by the user for uncovering the outlets before the capsule is inserted in the centrifugal brewing device. However, due to the monolithic arrangement of the sealing membrane, the opening of the membrane cannot be properly controlled without dedicated perforating members properly positioned in the brewing device. Another proposed capsule comprises an upper wall, a lower wall and a peripheral sealing edge which is designed to open as a result of the pressure of liquid which applies against it. The problem is to control the opening of the sealing edge by effect of the pressure of liquid thereon while ensuring a proper closure of the capsule at the sealing edge before opening (e.g. during storage, transport, etc.). This is relatively difficult to ensure in practice because the opening resistance of the closure to provide a proper bond of the elements of the capsule and/or avoid spillage of the ingredients during handling or storage may not be adapted for an opening under the conditions of pressure of the centrifuged beverage.
WO 2010/026053 relates to a single-use capsule which contains portioned food ingredients which can be sealed in a gastight manner with a perforable sealing membrane. The capsule experiences the same disadvantage as the capsule of WO 2008/148834.
The present invention aims at proposing a simpler, easier and more reliable solution for facilitating the opening of a capsule to allow the beverage release, by the effect of the centrifugal forces exerted by the beverage.